It's your body's way of reacting to what your brain is saying. If you're thinking sad thoughts, it will channel through your veins, to your eyes and then make you cry, if that's how you work. Through an emotional light, it's a way of showing how you feel, just like laughing, growling and your tummy screaming for food. Nothing to be ashamed of.

We are naturally equipped to cry and produce tears. Tears are produced by the lacrimal gland, which is located in the outer, upper portion of each of your eyes. Upon release tears flow down the ocular surface of your eye and on to your tear ducts and nasolacrimal ducts. If you are sitting at a Kevin Federline and Shaquille O'Neill singing hour, your emotional tears will overwhelm your ducts and tears will flow down your cheek.

There are three types of tears produced by our eyes which are classified as basal, reflex and emotional (psychogenic) tears .

Basal tears, which are the primary tear, help keep the eye surface nice and moist. The chemical components of this tear class allow it to form an adherent, thin film over the eye to provide general protection and moisture.

Sometimes we may get things like dust or a pellet from a Red Ryder BB gun in the eye. We all make mistakes. Such irritants will induce the response of reflex tears. Reflex tears hold similarity to basal tears, but are distinct in having chemical components that more readily allow elimination of particles and irritants (like dust or onion vapors) and microorganisms.

The final class of tears, and the ones that produce many scientific questions, are emotional tears. Some studies and scientists indicate this class of tear, within humans, are different within males and females and also may have a distinct evolutionary origin and physiological purpose.

its from your emotion... when you stomach hurts from laughing .... or when you suddenly feel that you're hurt ... or when you're mad at something that you trusted or cared about.... we cry because of our emotion it something you can't stop

When people cry , we release these hormones that make us feel bad , sad , etc .
That`s what Chicken Soup said . When we cry , we dispose of those and feel better .
It`s good to cry . It throws out stress , anger and many other emotions we dislike .

Well, it's an way to show emotion. Like when you shove little bad things down... and after a while they become so supressed inside of you, that you finally just let it out. Tears... are like laughter in a sense.

You’re watching the final scene in Thelma and Louise, and you’re on your third handkerchief. You turn your tear stained face to the side and look through blurred, saline-flooded vision at your cat, who is staring back at you witnessing the curious spectacle. Why is it that humans can be reduced to blubbering messes, while other members of the animal kingdom don’t seem to let out even a sniffle?

We have tear ducts to lubricate and protect our eyes from dust and other particles. The ducts are under the upper eyelids and produce a salty liquid—a tear-–-that gets spread throughout the eye after each blink. Animals too have the ability to produce tears, but not necessarily for the same reasons that we humans produce them.

Three types of tears are generated by the human eye. Basal tears protect the eye and keep it moist. Reflex tears flush out the eye when it becomes irritated. And emotional tears flow in response to sadness, distress, or physical pain.

Studies have shown that emotional tears contain more manganese, an element that affects temperament, and more prolactin, a hormone that regulates milk production. Sobbing out manganese and prolactin is thought to relieve tension by balancing the body’s stress levels and eliminating build ups of the chemicals, making the crier feel better.

Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Colorado Medical School, works primarily with people who are mourning loved ones. "In my experience," he says, "I have observed changes in the physical expressions following the expression of tears. Not only do people feel better after crying, they also look better."
And according to Dr. William Frey, a biochemist and director of the Dry Eye and Tear Research Center in Minneapolis, Minn., one reason people might feel better after crying could be because they are "removing, in their tears, chemicals that build up during emotional stress." Frey’s research indicates that tears, along with other bodily secretions like perspiration, rid the body of various toxins and wastes.

As far back as 1957, it was known that emotional tears are chemically different from tears that result from eye irritation. Emotional tears contain more beta-endorphins, some of our bodies’ natural pain relievers, and protein.

In addition, researchers also are discovering that people who cry frequently enjoy better health overall. Margaret Crepeau, Ph.D., professor of nursing at Marquette University, believes healthy people view tears positively, while people plagued with various illnesses see them as unnecessary, even humiliating.

"I find," Crepeau says, "that well men and women cry more tears more often than and women with ulcers or colitis."

Consequently, at Marquette’s School of Nursing, students and professionals are urged not to automatically provide tranquilizers to weeping patients, but to let the tears do their own therapeutic work. "Laughter and tears," Crepeau says, "are two inherently natural medicines. We can reduce duress, let out negative feelings, and recharge. They truly are the body’s own best resources."

How often and why do people cry?

Most people shed tears more often than we would think. Thanks to William Frey, who had subjects keep "tear diaries" during a study conducted at the Dry Eye and Tear Research Center, a pattern emerges:
Sadness accounts for 49% of tears;
Happiness, 21%;
Anger, 10%
Sympathy, 7%
Anxiety 5%
Fear 4%
But even these statistics do not tell the whole story. Tears, it seems, reflect our very humanity. One man, a driven and successful executive, finds that he breaks into tears on the subway while reading about the debilitating poverty of a homeless woman with four children. One woman, a high-powered attorney in Chicago, weeps whenever she hears a Mozart concerto.

What if you can’t cry?

Since more and more research is giving credibility to the idea that good health is strongly connected to the shedding of tears, those who are unable to cry should try to get in touch with their deepest emotions.
For some this may mean therapy. One woman, normally a noncrier who grew up in a family where keeping a stiff upper lip was the rule, found herself crying deeply almost every time she met with her therapist. "There had been latent feelings bottled inside me for years," she says. "After every teary session I felt better."

Most people, however, find the tears flowing when they read a touching story or have thoughts of past sadness.

Should tears be controlled?

The simple answer is no. Very few people cry for the wrong reasons. Consider the man who rushed his daughter to a local hospital after she experienced a severe fall. Because tears were pouring down his cheeks, the emergency room doctor ordered the young father to stop crying.
Clearly, the doctor was wrong. Most people would do well to cry more often, and scientists as well as therapists and doctors are beginning to concur.

Can we cry too often?

There is, in fact, only one word of caution about crying. Says one psychotherapist, "People who cry easily should feel glad they’re in touch with their feelings. But if they’re crying a lot in response to criticism, they should try to get some counseling. This kind of crying is an alarm bell of a far deeper hurt; it could signify a loss of self-esteem that is triggered whenever anyone says anything negative."
Perhaps the best advice of all regarding tears comes from Charles Dickens. In Oliver Twist, Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, is a less than sympathetic character. But he’s got the right idea when he declares that crying "opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens the temper.